The two-story, 47,000-square-foot, $20-million addition includes the Linn Maxwell Keller Black Box Theatre, with plain black walls and a level floor, typically designed to provide flexibility in stage configuration and audience seating.

Busy as a bee

Honeybees are disappearing and researchers around the world, including Grand Valley faculty members and students, are studying the reasons why.

The Grand Valley contingent is taking a close look at honeybee habitats and health, and organizing community outreach activities to educate people about the species’ importance. Students and faculty members extracted 360 pounds of honey from hives in Holland and Allendale to bottle and sell on campus.

Delivering good medicine

Rachel Rivera has diabetes and has been a patient of Amy Werling’s for nine years. Werling also treated Rivera when she was having difficulty conceiving a child. “Ms. Werling helped me get my miracle,” said Rivera. “She’s the only provider I’ve seen since moving to the area 10 years ago.”

Werling graduated from Grand Valley's physician assistant studies program and now works at the Sparta Health Center. She is one of many successful graduates who are filling a need for more health care providers.

Opening global doors

Like Holly Miller, for example. Miller was diagnosed with autism at 4. As a Grand Valley student, she participated in a 2016 faculty-led trip to China and completed a thesis that focused on how the country diagnoses autism. She is now a graduate student at East China Normal University.